Laundry Day
by MadisonEmrys
Summary: Harry shows Ginny the exciting world of doing laundry the muggle way when she's out of clothes to wear and resorts to wearing his instead. For forever dreaming's Domesticity Challenge!


"Blast it, where's my bloody jumper at?" Harry muttered, rummaging through his wardrobe. Not finding it there, he searched the dresser and even through Ginny's wardrobe and still could not locate his burgundy jumper.

Harry exited their bedroom and shouted down the hallway, "Ginny, have you seen my jumper?"

Ginny sidled into the hallway, smirking as he realized she was wearing the jumper. "Do you mean this jumper?"

"Yes, I do mean that jumper! It's my only clean one left. Why are you wearing it?" Harry asked.

"Maybe because I'm all out of clean jumpers myself?" Ginny replied with a grin, walking towards him.

He rolled his eyes and said, "You do realize we having a perfectly good washing machine and dryer, right? So, you don't _actually_ have to resort to wearing my clothes all of the time when you forget to do your laundry."

She wrapped her arms around his middle and Harry automatically embraced her. "But your clothes are just so much better than mine. Plus, I never know how much of the detergent to use and you're never around to show me how to use the muggle machines you insisted on having!"

"Excuses, excuses! By the time I was seven I was doing all of the laundry for the Dursley's, so you should be able to do your own at age twenty!" Harry teased, gently tugging her into their bedroom. "I'll show you how to do it right now then. Come on, grab your dirty clothes and let's get started."

The two of them each grabbed their hampers and walked to their laundry area. Harry began sorting his clothes out into whites, and darks, with Ginny looking on, confusion evident on her face. He chuckled and asked, "Did Molly never teach any of you how to do laundry, not even the magic way?"

Ginny blushed, giving Harry his answer. "In my defense, mum knows how bad I am at cooking and at keeping my room clean, so I think she did it for my own and everyone else's safety more than anything else."

Harry shook his head in mock disappointment, but he had a grin of amusement on his face. He nodded at her hamper. "Come on, then! Start sorting your clothes into lights and darks, and if you have any delicates to wash, those go separately from both in their own wash to keep them nice," he explained, pointing to his separated piles on the floor around him.

She nodded, then began adding her clothes to his piles until her hamper was emptied out. Once she finished sorting, Harry put all of the darks into his hamper, motioning for Ginny to do the same with the lights and delicates in her hamper. They walked down the hallway towards the front entrance where the machines were located, giggling and smiling at each other the whole time. Harry set his hamper down in front of the washing machine, opened the lid and began throwing the large load of darks in. About halfway through, he dumped a large capful of liquid detergent into the machine and continued throwing the clothes in. He closed the door and carefully instructed Ginny on which buttons to press and how to operate the knob to get the correct cycle.

"As a good rule of thumb, I always do cold-cold for washing and rinsing, and I tend to go for a higher volume than what I probably have just to make sure everything gets cleaned properly. Depending on what the label says on delicate pieces, I often do a warm-cold washing and rinsing to make them last longer," said Harry. He turned the knob to start the cycle, noting the flinch Ginny gave when the water kicked on. "And now we wait for the cycle to be over. It'll ding at us when it's done."

He took her hand and pulled her back into their living room, gently tumbling with her onto the sofa. She squirmed in his arms a bit before finding a comfortable position nestled between his chest and the back of the sofa.

"So how long is it going to take to do the cycle?" she asked, toying with the fabric of Harry's shirt.

"The washing machine will take about an hour, and the dryer will take about forty-five minutes or so, once we get to that point," Harry answered, playfully pinching her cheek.

"Well, in that case," Ginny smirked, "I've got an idea to pass the time."

Harry grinned back and leaned in closer to kiss her lazily. They stayed wrapped up in each other on the couch, content to be with each other and doing something as simple as laundry together. The machine dinged, as promised, an hour later, and Harry showed Ginny the proper operation of the dryer, explaining the purpose of the lint screen and why it needed cleaning after each use. He allowed her to put their white clothes into the washing machine and turn the knob to the right place, rewarding her with a not-so-chaste kiss against the wall.

Breathless, Ginny ran a hand through her hair to push it out of her face, a light blush creeping up her neck. "Why Mr. Potter, that was highly unexpected of you," she said in a sultry voice, striking a demure pose against the wall.

He made a half-hearted attempt to look broody, before wrapping his arms around her and speaking into her shoulder, "Maybe I'm just happy my girlfriend is accepting my muggle traditions and doing her best to learn them."

She snuggled into him, happy that he was happy, and that she could use the laundry machines now without his help. When it came time to take the first load of clothes out of the dryer though, Ginny wanted no part of the next step.

"What do you mean you fold every single piece of clothing by hand? Doesn't that get boring and take forever?" she asked, eyes wide and a deep groove etched into her forehead.

"I think it's relaxing to fold my clothes. And, for the record, they're really warm, which is an added bonus," Harry shrugged. "Sometimes I do use magic now though if I'm in a hurry. But I think it's nice to do some routine things by hand so that I don't become so reliant on magic I can't function as a regular human being otherwise."

Ginny looked at him with doubt still on her face but knelt across from him and began folding her clothes as well, slowly coming to realize Harry's reasoning was sound when it came to feeling more relaxed while folding clothes.

Once all of other loads were out of the machines and folded, they split the duties of putting everything back in their closet and dresser. They collapsed onto the bed together, each lost in their own thoughts. Harry began playing with the ends of Ginny's hair, making her smile and move closer to cuddle with him.

"Thanks for teaching me how to use your odd muggle machines today, Harry. I really appreciate it," Ginny said quietly.

"Of course, Gin. Now you can stop stealing my clothes all of the time since you know how to do laundry with my machines now!" Harry nudged her shoulder with his.

She rolled over to face him and gave him a large eye roll in response. "You know you love seeing me in your clothes so that's a terrible reason," Ginny murmured, happiness radiating from her smile.

Harry leaned in to kiss her gently and then said, "You're definitely not wrong there, love." He pulled her closer then and got lost in her eyes and hands and mouth for the rest of the afternoon, content to be present with her in that moment forever.


End file.
